SAO PAULO, May 17 (Reuters) - Brazilian state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA said its oil and natural gas output held steady in April at 2.72 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, according to a securities filing on Wednesday.

Of the total, 2.6 million barrels per day (bpd) were produced in Brazil and the rest came from overseas, the company said. Petrobras produced 2.74 million bpd in March. Petrobras did not provide a comparison with April 2016.

Presalt production was 1.5 million barrels per day, stable from March but 50 percent higher than in the same month a year earlier, Petrobras said.

April’s presalt output, including Petrobras’ own and through joint ventures, rose due to the start of operations of two new rigs and production increases in three others, the company said.

Earlier in the day, environmental agency Ibama granted authorization for Petrobras to operate the P-66 platform in the Lula Sul oil field in the Santos basin, which the company filed for last December.

The unit has capacity to produce 150,000 barrels of oil and 6 million cubic meters of natural gas per day.